Braces
by Desayuno
Summary: Cue that music they play in horror movies when the main character realizes somthing terrible is about to happen: Dun, dun, dun! Harry visits Hermione over the summer, and her parents tell him he needs braces. Nooooo!


Okay, here goes: story #2. Hope everyone likes it! PLEASE REVIEW! I'm desperate! luv ya! Enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer- "Harry Potter" and the names of the characters, items, events, and places therin are trademarks of J.K.Rowling under liscense to Warner Brothers Incorporated.  
  
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Chapter One- The invitation  
  
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Tap! Tap! Tappity- tap- tap!  
  
Harry rolled onto his stomach and pulled his pillow over his head, but he could still hear it.   
  
"Alright, alright!" he said grumpily, and the tapping ceased. He dragged himself out of bed, and over to his window. There was a snowy owl with black, brown, and gray spots sitting on the sill outside, waiting expectantly for him to open the window. Harry almost felt like leaving it there and trying to sleep through the tapping until it gave up and flew off, but then he spotted Hermione's neat handwriting on the envelope the owl was carrying. Harry pushed the window open and watched the owl gracefully drop the letter on his desk and flutter over to Hedwig's empty cage, giving him a look that said: finally!  
  
"What?" Harry asked the owl, but it was already too involved in eating the rest of Hedwig's food to even respond with a hoot. Harry picked up the letter and sat down on his bed.  
  
"To: Harry Potter," he read aloud by the moonlight. He opened up the envelope and pulled out a thick piece of parchment. Unfolding it, he began to read the emerald script.  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
I'm so excited! I got a new owl! I named her Jewel. Isn't she beautiful?! Anyway, I was wondering if you might be able to visit me this summer. Ron is coming as well. We're going to Los Angeles, California! Isn't it wonderful?! Oh, please say you'll come! It wouldn't be any fun without you! We're coming for you at 2:30 pm on Tuesday. If you don't reply before then, we're still coming at 2:30 pm on Tuesday (Ron talked me into it), so be ready! See you then,  
  
-Hermione   
  
Tuesday. Hmm... Wait! Today was Tuesday! He was going to see Ron and Hermione today! Harry glanced at his alarm clock. 5:04 am. That meant that in 9 hours and 26 minutes, he was going to see his best friends again. Harry felt like he could leap for joy, and he did.  
  
"Yes!" he exclaimed and jumped on his bed, not caring if he woke the Dursleys. He was going to Hermione's at 2:30 pm today. He wasn't even going to be seeing them for the rest of the summer. If he wasn't awake before, he was awake now. Awake and thrilled. So thrilled, in fact, that he began to pack his things that very moment, all the while wishing he could remember that spell Tonks had used about a year ago in his room. Harry hadn't felt so happy since before Sirius... Well, Harry didn't like to think about it. It made him feel depressed, but right now, the excitement of seeing his friends again was enough to keep him ecstatically happy for a while.  
  
In the middle of all this, Hedwig had flown in, and was presently eating a mouse in her cage, discreetly eyeing Jewel all the while.   
  
Harry chuckled to himself. Hedwig never liked it when other birds stayed in his cage. but he'd never encountered a female in her cage before. She was a little unsure of what to do, and it was pretty funny to watch. Harry remembered when HE was like that around girls. In fact, he still was. Hmm...  
  
"Well," Harry thought, "Hermione IS a girl, maybe she can help me out, make things a little easier to understand." A girl's mind was a confusing thing- he'd learned that last year with Cho. He shuddered to remember their one and only date.  
  
Things were beginning to look better and better. He was going on a vacation with his best friends, the place they were going sounded really cool, and he was going to learn how to do the one thing he couldn't- talk to and understand particularily good- looking members of the opposite sex. What more could a fifteen- almost- sixteen- year old wizard ask for?  
  
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"This better not be like last time. Mark my words, boy, if more of your kind come through my fireplace, I'll...I'll..." Uncle Vernon trailed off.  
  
"You'll what?" Harry asked, ever so sweetly.  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
Just as Uncle Vernon said this, the soft purr of an expensive car could be heard coming up the street and stopping at their driveway. Harry dashed to the window.   
  
"Is it...them?" Aunt Petunia asked hesitantly.  
  
"Yeah. I din't know the Grangers had a Mercedes Benz, though!" Harry said, surprised. He'd always know that Hermione wasn't poor, but he'd kinda thought they were struggling a little. Obviously not. Harry suddenly wondered what their house looked like.  
  
"A Mercedes Benz?" Uncle Vernon was surprised, too. "And they're your type?  
  
"No. Thy're Muggles like you. It's their daughter that's my friend and is a witch," Harry explained.  
  
"Ah, figures." Uncle Vernon walked over to the window next to Harry to gaze at the gleaming silver car, completely ignoring the two figures getting out of it. "That's a Vision SLR!"   
  
"I don't care, Uncle Vernon," Harry said, picking up his trunk and dropping it next to the door by Hedwig's cage.  
  
"Top speed: 197 miles per hour."  
  
"I don't care, uncle Vernon," Harry said, opening the front door to greet his friends.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"So, are you ready?"  
  
"Yeah, hang on," Harry replied, picking up his trunk.  
  
"Ron, could you get that?" Harry asked, motioning towards Hedwig's cage, which still contained a quite happy Jewel seeming to be talking to Hedwig. "I see you've adapted,"Harry commented, and Hedwig gave a happy hoot in reply.  
  
"Sure,"Ron said, and heaved the cage onto his arm.  
  
"Man, that's a fast car, it can really jet! It can go from 0- 62 in 4.2 seconds!"  
  
"I DON'T CARE, UNCLE VERNON!"Harry yelled, and turned to walk out of the house.  
  
"What's wrong with him?" Ron asked.  
  
"He's just a little obsessed with cars, especially Mercedes Benz's. Oh, Merlin! Am I glad to be out of that hell- hole!" Harry said, relieved..  
  
"Was it really that bad?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Oh, it was. It was horrible. They pretended like I wasn't there most of the time, and that doesn't exactly do wonders for your self- esteem and happiness," Harry said, remembering all those days he spent alone.  
  
"Yes, well, maybe you're right. I haven't experienced it myself, so I can't really can't say." Hermione nodded in understanding.  
  
"I s'pose she's right," Ron agreed, opening the trunk of the car and helping Harry lift HIS trunk into it. Ron shut it, and Hermione opened the door for them both.  
  
"Thanks," Harry muttered, and then, "Hang on, don't Vision SLR's only have two seats?"  
  
"Normal ones do," Ron winked.  
  
"I guess this one isn't normal, then," Harry said, because he was staring at a spacious backseat.  
  
"Nope," Hermione replied. "I convinced Mum and Dad to let me bewitch it- just to pick you up, of course," She said, eyeing her parents warily.  
  
"Scooch in, already!" Ron whined, prodding Harry's back.Harry slid in, and Ron, then Hermione followed suit.  
  
"So, where are we going?" Harry asked.  
  
"My house," Hermione answered as Mr. Granger pulled out of Privet Drive, and Harry silently rejoiced. He was free!  
  
"How long until we get there?"he asked.  
  
"Too long," Hermione replied. Harry wondered what she was talking about until Ron opened his mouth. Then he understood.  
  
"99 bottles of butterbeer on the wall! 99 bottles of butterbeer!..."  
  
"Oh, not again!" Hermione groaned, but Harry smiled. This was going to be one of the best summers ever.  
  
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End Chapter One  
  
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So? What did ya think! Please review! my first chapters are never funny, but it's coming, I swear! 


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